Heh. If I'd relied on those kinds of things, I'd still not have a credit rating. (And payment plans/department store is all credit-building, just like owning and paying a credit card.)

The only way they could have found me was to query my social security number on a credit report.

So, I went ahead and got the secured credit card, and worked from there.

My husband's somewhat older than me (I'm 34 too), and for a while AARP thought I was the one turning 50 and I got all the solicitations. Made me laugh. ;-)